BART needs billions for new cars, operating system and maintenance complex

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BART trains approach and leave the Oakland Coliseum station on Wednesday, March 18, 2015, in Oakland, Calif., slowing at the track switch, one of the the areas where critical repair work will start in April. Starting April 5, the major track repair project will halt weekend train service between Coliseum and Fruitvale stations for several non-consecutive weekends throughout the summer. BART workers will replace 1,000 degraded wooden ties, 3,000 feet of worn rail, and repair track switches. (Laura A. Oda/Bay Area News Group)

BART will need voter help to meet more than $9.6 billion in capital needs through 2024, and it has no contingency plan if voters don’t come through to help, California’s state auditor says in a report released Tuesday afternoon.

The report comes as the agency is replacing aged train cars that are at the end of their useful lives and working to replace a train-control system needed to operate new cars efficiently enough to take on the system’s steadily increasing — and less happy than ever — 400,000 daily riders.

With those needs, BART directors have begun exploring whether to put a billion-dollar bond measure on the ballot, perhaps next year. The report, which also finds no foundation for some union claims of worker mistreatment, backs up BART’s growing concern that it will not find much government help in meeting its need for major renewal.

“While we are heartened that the audit finds our financial projection process is well founded, it remains clear that we must continue our efforts to address BART’s unfunded need,” she said in a news release, which adds, “The audit notes that BART is considering several options for gaining additional revenues, including future bond measures.”

The transit agency has “made great strides in tackling approximately half of the overall need; our current unfunded need is estimated at $4.8 billion,” she said.

Members of the Bay Area state legislative delegation requested the audit during the 2013 strike against BART.

The auditors concluded that BART has:

Reliably forecast its financial needs in the past, and “its financial projections are plausible.”

Is running 40-year-old cars that the industry expects to last 25 years and run longer with overhauls.

A cash-flow problem in contracting for a $2.5 billion incremental new-car delivery through 2022 that “will not have enough funding at certain times.”

Cash-flow challenges for other projects — “its total capital needs are projected to cost over $9.6 billion between fiscal years 2014—15 and 2023—24,” and BART plans to ask voters for more money. “However, it has no specific contingency plans if no additional revenue measures are passed.”

As summarized by BART, the auditor found:

Violence against BART employees did not continuously increase between fiscal years 2009-10 and 2013-14.

The proportion of BART managers compared with the workforce “is generally consistent” with other transit agencies with comparable ridership.

No evidence that union employees were being replaced with contract labor.

BART employees were paid appropriately according to their job classifications.

Chris Finn, president of Amalgamated Transit Workers Local 1555, had not seen the report but said workers had raised a number of safety issues, including assaults on station agents.

More generally, he said the union has raised workplace safety and workers’ compensation issues that could save the agency millions of dollars.

The agency’s hiring surge is only for half of the funds generated under SB 1; the other half is going to cities and counties for transportation improvements projects, which are also expected to generate new jobs.